The all-cash transaction will add to Renesas’ portfolio of connectivity technology, extending its reach into high-demand Near-Field Communication (NFC) applications in fintech, IoT, asset tracking, wireless charging and automotive applications.
NFC has emerged as a de facto standard in the digital economy and touches many aspects of daily life from Fintech, such as mobile point-of-sale (mPoS) terminals and contactless payment, to the IoT, being used in asset tracking and wireless charging.
Headquartered in Graz, Austria, Panthronics has been offering advanced NFC chipsets and software that are simple to apply, innovative, small-in-size, and highly efficient for payment, IoT, and NFC wireless charging.
Both companies have been working together Renesas and Panthronics since 2018. The acquisition of Panthronics’ NFC technology will provide Renesas with in-house capabilities enabling it to address growing and emerging market opportunities for NFC.
Combining Panthronics’ NFC technology with Renesas’ broad product portfolio and security functions in microcontrollers (MCU)/microprocessors (MPU) will provide Renesas’ customer base with more options to create innovative, ready-to-market NFC system solutions.
Renesas and Panthronics have already launched four joint designs of NFC system solutions to date. These include solutions catering for mPoS terminals, wireless charging, and wall box smart metering platforms.
The companies have also developed an NFC connectivity board that is fully integrated into the Renesas Quick-Connect Studio ecosystem, which allows customers to add features quickly and easily to MCU development boards. This enables a “plug and play” addition of full-featured, high-end NFC connectivity.
Several more systems for PoS, IoT, wireless charging, and mobile are in development.
“Connectivity has been a priority area of ours, expanding and differentiating the realm of solutions we offer,” said Hidetoshi Shibata, President and CEO of Renesas. “We see tremendous opportunities for Panthronics’ NFC connectivity technology to benefit our customers in growing areas that span across fintech, IoT, and automotive spheres.”
